Wild notes: Leopold proves too valuable to pull out of the lineup

Hanging just under Jordan Leopold's nameplate in his locker room stall is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle "Leonardo" figurine. "Little Leo" was placed there by Leopold's youngest child, Kyle, and it's further proof the veteran defenseman is right at home with the Wild.

Acquired in March from Columbus, Leopold has played better and more than anybody could have envisioned after being scratched 18 consecutive games at one point by the Blue Jackets. Leopold, 34, has so impressed coach Mike Yeo that Nate Prosser, who was playing well before spraining a knee in March, has been scratched the first four games of the playoffs.

"It had nothing to do with Pross and the fact he wasn't playing well," Yeo said. "We liked the left-right combination [with Leopold and Matt Dumba], and we knew that was going to be important against [the Blues]. Defending and being hard in the corners, that's part of it. Being able to execute, break that type of forecheck game that they want to play, ideally we spend less time defending, and that was why we went that direction."

Despite not playing a lot in Columbus, Leopold quipped he has played enough games to "know what it takes to have a decent game with a lot of rust."

Leopold says if he plays hockey next season, he'd likely only consider re-signing with Minnesota. He'd love to, but he's not thinking about the future right now.

"The age is younger and younger in the league and it's tougher to stick around when you're an old guy," Leopold said. "I remember when I first came in, there were a lot of guys with families, a lot of guys in their mid-30s. You don't see that as much anymore."

In order to be an "old guy" in today's NHL, you have to be mobile and "that's what I bring," Leopold said. "I tell myself before every game, 'I've got to skate.' First comes skating, then comes moving pucks and making smart plays. Over the years, you learn what makes the game easy and what makes the game tough."

"It's been a dream to play here, especially in this kind of environment," he said. "It's an exciting time going around the city and seeing how excited everybody is. It's truly pretty neat."

Blues coach Ken Hitchcock chose to revive some classic combinations in Game 4 in the hopes of jump-starting a stalled offense. After reconfiguring his lines late in the season because of injuries — and sticking with the new groupings at the start of the playoffs — Hitchcock reverted to the old trios.

David Backes centered Alex Steen and T.J. Oshie, while Paul Stastny skated between Dmitrij Jaskin and Patrick Berglund. Jaden Schwartz moved to a line with Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko. Chris Porter entered the lineup for the first time on the fourth line with Steve Ott and Ryan Reaves.

Hitchcock also restored the defense pairings of Jay Bouwmeester-Alex Pietrangelo, Carl Gunnarsson-Kevin Shattenkirk and Barret Jackman-Zbynek Michalek.

"We've reached a stage with our own team where we've just got to expect a little bit more from guys," Hitchcock said Wednesday morning. "Put them in positions to succeed, put them with the guys they've spent most of the year with."

"I don't want to back down from anything. I think that's the biggest thing," said Dumba, 20. "You can't shy away from that stuff, especially in a series against the lines I'm playing against. They're trying to create that, have that imposing presence on me. You've just got to battle through it, really. It's been fun. I like that. It hasn't slowed me up so far."

Though Wild fans have been upset with the antics of Blues provocateur Ott, Hitchcock said he thinks the series has been relatively peaceful. Despite Ott's near-constant pot-stirring, the coach believes both teams are carefully avoiding confrontations that could be costly.

Not counting Ott's two 10-minute misconducts, the Blues took eight penalties for 16 minutes the first three games, while the Wild were penalized five times for 10 minutes — including a penalty-free Game 3. Through Wednesday's games, the Blues' five power-play opportunities were the fewest of any team in the playoffs.

"There's so little stuff after the whistle compared to most normal series," Hitchcock said. "It's because both teams know what's at stake. … Both teams know that whoever wins this series can do some serious damage."

The NHL announced that Game 5 Friday in St. Louis will be at 8:30 p.m.